Claes Oldenburg

Four Figures and a Head, on Giant Phallus by Claes Oldenburg erotic nude scene

1975

This sensuous and playful scene is characteristic of Oldenburg’s printmaking ouevre: a veritable heap of women displaying various expressions of ecstasy and repose. The loose sketches were drawn directly onto the plate by the artist, a master draftsman whose erotic etchings are largely unknown. The composition is based on the drawing: Clinical Study, Towards a Heroic-Erotic Monument in the Academic/Comic Style, 1965, ball-point pen on paper, 20 x 40 in. / 60 x 101.6 cm. *This print was etched in six gorgeous inks, each in an edition of ten: take your pick of color!* Oldenburg had an interest in imaginary monuments: he famously conceptualized works such as “Ball”, an unbuilt monument conceived of in 1967 which imagined two ballcocks – the round mechanism in a toilet tank...

This etching features a nude woman in high heels. Whipping her head to the left, she gazes intently past the viewer through a wild tangle of tresses. A sunhat with a bow nearly floats off her head, a tongue-in-cheek nod to modesty. Taking a wide stance, she straddles a comically large phallus, which springs up eagerly from the ground like a plant. Unusually, this etching was drawn directly onto the plate from the artist’s imagination and not from a life model. This spontaneity is visible around the woman’s bust and arms, where Oldenburg sketched several variations of her anatomy, giving the impression of a figure in movement. Beside her left breast, Oldenburg extends this halo of lines by cheekily doodling a small, floating phallus. Paper 36 x 27.5 in. / 91.4 x 69.2 cm. Plate 23.5 x 17.7 in. / 59.7 x 45.1 cm. Etching in one color on white, thick, slightly textured Wookey Hole handmade paper watermarked with the artist’s signature. Signed by the artist and dated 1975 lower right in pencil. The edition of 60 includes ten prints in each of six different ink colors: Indigo blue, vermilion, mauve, burnt sienna, astral blue, and yellow-ochre. A copy of each color is available: this listing is for one copy in the color of your choice. As recorded in the artist’s unpublished notes: “In 1974 an ambitious project for a suite of large-scale etchings was hatched with Paul Cornwall-Jones, for production by Maurice Payne in Petersburg Press’s new Pembroke studios in London. The project would consist of meticulous transcriptions of a certain group of drawings...

Image 19.75 x 26.3 in. / 50 x 67 cm Paper 27.25 x 36 in./ 69.2 x 91.4 cm Etching in one color on white, thick, slightly textured Wookey Hole handmade paper watermarked with artist’s...

Printed in rich astral blue, this etching depicts a nude woman from the waist up. Emerging from her cupid’s-bow lips, the tip of a phallus imitates a ball gag, and across her chest, ...

Claes Oldenburg Parade of Women (from One Cent Life), 1964: Lithograph printed in colors. 16.25 x 22.75 in (41.28 x 57.79 cm). Minor signs of handling; otherwise excellent overall v...

Artist: Claes Oldenburg Title: Parade of Women Series: One Cent Life Year: 1964 Medium: Lithograph Initialled in Plate, lower right Dimensions: 16.25 x 23" Provenance: Private Collec...

Artist: Claes Oldenburg, Swedish/American (1929 - ) Title: Fagends Carved in Rock, Fagend Canyon (Axsom and Platzker 137) Year: 1975 Medium: Offset Lithograph on Wove paper, signe...

Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1964 and published by Eberhard Kornfeld for the 1 Cent Life portfolio in an edition of 2000. Size: 16 1/4 x 22 3/4 inches (408 x 580 mm). Publ...